WHO launches campaign to promote maternal and newborn health
This week is National Public Health Week and the WHO is launching a new year-long campaign to promote maternal and newborn health. Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove joins Morning Joe to discuss.
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News24
12 hours ago
- News24
SAMA urges caution as flu cases surge and new COVID-19 variant emerges
With flu season in full swing, health professionals are advising South Africans to be more cautious due to an increase in flu cases and the appearance of NB. 1.8.1. NB 1.8.1 is an unusual Covid-19 Omicron subvariant that is spreading rapidly in numerous countries. Speaking in an interview with Newzroom Afrika about the matter, Dr Vusumuzi Mzukwa, chairperson of the South African Medical Association (SAMA), clarified that although there's yet no official call to reinstate masks, precautions are still crucial. 'We have not yet made a call for wearing of masks but what we are doing is cautioning South African's that there's a new variant,' he said. Furthermore, Mzukwa added that the virus still exists in endemic form even if it is no longer dominant. 'It is in existence, but in very low numbers.' According to Mzukwa the World Health Organisation (WHO) has designated NB. 1.8.1 as a variant currently under observation globally as variants continue to evolve. 'We're looking at its spread, its severity, but it's early days. There's nothing to worry about at the moment,' he clarified. Read more | Presiding judge at Senzo Meyiwa's murder trial causes uproar after racial remarks spark controversy He described the common symptoms of contemporary infections as follows: 'You get a sore throat, headaches, fatigue, muscle pains. Some gastrointestinal symptoms like diarrhoea and vomiting.' Read more | Brace yourself | South African Weather Services issues warning on cold front this weekend He concluded by reminding the public that masks are not just for COVID but for precautionary measures of infectious flu. 'Masks were not only meant for COVID. They were also meant for the flu, if you've got flu symptoms, you protect other people in the workplace and the community.'
Yahoo
13 hours ago
- Yahoo
Why has there been a global surge of new Covid variant NB.1.8.1?
India is the latest country to report a surge in new Covid cases, as the latest variant NB.1.8.1 spreads across the globe. Cases have now been reported in Asian countries such as Thailand, Indonesia and China, while the UKHSA recorded the first 13 cases in England last week. However, the true numbers are unlikely to be known, given the significant decrease in the number of people testing compared to the figures seen during the global pandemic five years ago. NB.1.8.1 stemmed from the Omicron variant and was first detected in January this year. It has quickly spread across China and Hong Kong, and has now been recorded in several states across the United States and Australia. By late April, NB.1.8.1 comprised about 10.7 per cent of submitted sequences globally, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). This rose from just 2.5 per cent one month before. The WHO declared the NB.1.8.1 strain a 'variant under monitoring' on 23 May, which means scientists believe it could potentially affect the behaviour of the virus. Lara Herrero, a virologist from Griffith University in Australia, suspects that NB.1.8.1 spreads more easily than other variants. 'Using lab-based models, researchers found NB.1.8.1 had the strongest binding affinity to the human ACE2 receptor of several variants tested, suggesting it may infect cells more efficiently than earlier strains,' Dr Herrero wrote last month in The Conversation. Dr Chun Tang, GP at Pall Mall Medical, added: 'NB.1.8.1 isn't too different from the Omicron variant, but it does have some tweaks to its spike protein, which might make it spread a bit more easily or slip past some of our existing immunity. 'That said, early signs suggest it doesn't seem to cause more serious illness, but of course, we're still learning more about it.' 'Its spread has been identified in around 22 countries,' said Dr Naveed Asif, GP at The London General Practice. 'The WHO assesses the additional risk to the global public as currently low, and existing Covid-19 vaccines are considered effective in preventing severe disease.' However, Nimbus does appear to be more transmissible than previous variants, with notable increases reported in India, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Thailand, notes Dr Asif. Common symptoms of the NB.1.8.1 variant include a severe sore throat. fatigue, mild cough, fever, muscle aches and congestion. It has also been reported that some patients have experienced gastrointestinal symptoms such as nausea and diarrhoea. Healthcare experts have stressed, however, that there is no evidence that the new strain is more deadly or serious than previous variants, and that current Covid vaccines are expected to remain effective and protect anyone infected from severe illness.
Politico
3 days ago
- Politico
WHO sounds the alarm as US measles cases mount
Presented by Driving The Day WHO SPEAKS UP ON MEASLES — President Donald Trump might not care for the World Health Organization's advice, but that isn't stopping one of its top officials from warning his administration about what's at stake as measles cases accumulate in the U.S. Dr. Katherine O'Brien, the WHO's vaccines director, told POLITICO's Carmen Paun that U.S. political leaders should clearly endorse and promote measles vaccination to prevent the country from losing its disease-elimination status — and become a location that gives rise to future outbreaks that can easily spread domestically and abroad among travelers. If the disease spreads continuously for a year, it would be considered endemic for the first time in 25 years. 'It's really a sign of a country going backwards in terms of their ability to protect people,' O'Brien said. Why it matters: O'Brien said 'leadership voices really matter' when people consider medical interventions for their children. If one family is influenced enough to decline the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine for their child, that's 'one child too many,' she said, given how highly contagious the virus is. Measles is 'not just a fever and a rash that people get over,' O'Brien said. So far this year, three unvaccinated people — including two young girls — have died from the disease in the U.S. Before the most recent outbreak, the last U.S. measles death occurred in 2015. Background: HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has couched his promotion of the MMR shot with statements emphasizing that vaccination is a personal choice. Before he ran for president and then entered government, Kennedy founded Children's Health Defense, an anti-vaccine nonprofit that suggests shots cause a slew of pediatric medical problems such as autism, asthma and developmental delays. Kennedy has also inaccurately asserted that the MMR vaccine contains cells from aborted fetuses and has touted supplements like vitamin A as a disease treatment. HHS has defended the secretary's measles response, calling 'claims' that he's 'spreading misinformation or undermining vaccine confidence … flat-out false.' WELCOME TO FRIDAY PULSE. I'm FDA reporter Lauren Gardner, filling in for Kelly today. Pass along your tips, scoops and feedback to lgardner@ and khooper@ and follow along @Gardner_LM or @Kelhoops. POLITICO PRO SPACE — Need an insider's guide to the politics behind the new space race? From battles over sending astronauts to Mars to the ways space companies are vying to influence regulators, this weekly newsletter decodes the personalities, policy and power shaping the final frontier. Find out more. In Congress THIRD RAIL NO MORE? Senate Republicans are considering ways to incorporate Medicare cuts into their domestic spending package to help offset its cost — a move that could divide a party that can't afford many defections to pass the president's signature legislation, POLITICO's Jordain Carney, Meredith Lee Hill and Robert King report. The House version of President Donald Trump's big beautiful bill includes cuts to Medicaid, the government health insurance program for low-income people and those with disabilities. But cuts to Medicare — which insures those 65 and older — are widely seen as politically dangerous. The idea percolated in private meetings this week as GOP leaders try to placate budget hardliners who want more spending cuts in the package ahead of a self-imposed July 4 deadline for passage. And some Republicans believe Trump supports Medicare cuts — provided they're limited to targeting 'waste, fraud and abuse' — despite the potential for backlash from rank-and-file senators and House moderates who already sank efforts to touch the program. HEADING TO THE HUMPHREY BUILDING — The Senate confirmed Jim O'Neill on Thursday in a 52-43 vote to be HHS's deputy secretary, your morning host writes. O'Neill, a George W. Bush-era HHS official who's close with early Trump supporter and tech billionaire Peter Thiel, will be the department's No. 2 official charged with managing operations. AROUND THE AGENCIES FDA'S RARE DISEASE DRUG APPROACH — The FDA's leading biologics regulator said Thursday that he was open to using alternative measurement methods when evaluating rare-disease therapies, combining what he called 'gold-standard science and common sense' in the approval process. 'We will rapidly make available therapies at the first sign or promise of biomedical success or action, but we're also going to follow up overall survival and quality of life on the back end,' Dr. Vinay Prasad, director of the FDA's Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, said during an agency roundtable on cell and gene therapies. The remarks were notable given Prasad's history of criticizing past FDA approvals of certain treatments, including a controversial Duchenne muscular dystrophy gene therapy and certain cancer drugs, using surrogate markers. Prasad added he's often asked whether he's 'solely' interested in randomized controlled trials and said he's open to a variety of methodologies demonstrating a drug's benefit. Background: His remarks come weeks after he and Commissioner Marty Makary unveiled a new Covid-19 vaccine framework that limits approvals of future formulation changes to people 65 and older and younger individuals with an underlying condition — and requiring new RCTs to prove the shots are safe and effective for young, healthy people. Cell and gene therapies are often discussed in the context of rare diseases as the technologies can address root causes instead of solely managing symptoms. But a condition's rarity hinders a company's ability to conduct a large-scale trial for a drug candidate, an issue with which regulators and industry have long struggled. The FDA launched a rare disease 'hub' last year to better align its drug and biologics regulators in their approach to considering those therapies for the market. NIH LOOKS TO AI — The National Institutes of Health is building an AI strategy to help HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. target chronic disease, POLITICO's Ruth Reader reports. Principal Deputy Director Matthew Memoli announced the plan Thursday, asking the public to weigh in at the Coalition for Health AI's Innovation Summit at Stanford University. NIH wants industry to comment on both the broad approach and the specific actions the administration should take in developing the strategy. The agency plans to create a new website to highlight its AI work. 'Addressing this crisis is going to require large-scale efforts — research that's going to generate large amounts of data — and we are going to need all the tools available to us in order to try to address this,' Memoli said. Names in the News Courtney Rhodes is now head of news and media relations at the U.S. Travel Association. She was previously a spokesperson at the FDA. The Health Resources and Services Administration announced its new 34-member board of directors for the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network. WHAT WE'RE READING House FDA appropriators advanced their fiscal 2026 spending measure Thursday for the agency and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, POLITICO's David Lim reports. Infectious disease and other medical experts fear HHS's changes to Covid-19 vaccine recommendations will make it more difficult to immunize people by complicating discussions with providers and likely leading to fewer places stocking them, Stat's Helen Branswell writes.
